I went to a Arthur Lee benefit a few weeks ago for him at the Whiskey, in LA. Johnny Echols (Love guitarist) played an amazing set with Baby Lemonade, playing Love songs. It was beautiful. It was a huge turn out and a tremendous showing of love.posted by Titania at 10:42 PM on August 3, 2006

Now it seems
Things are not so strange
I can
see more clearly
Suddenly I've found my way
I
know the old man would laugh
He spoke of love's
sweeter days
And in his eloquent way
I think he was
speaking of you...posted by lapolla at 1:06 AM on August 4, 2006

Love was amazing in how they could do delicate stuff like Forever Changes and then completely rock out on stuff like "My Little Red Book," which sets the record for the raunchiest Bacharach cover of all time.posted by jonmc at 5:54 AM on August 4, 2006

Another genius gone. May he rest in peace.posted by blucevalo at 8:30 AM on August 4, 2006

Sad. Love had some brilliant songs during their first era.

I saw the newly-unjailed Lee play with 'Love' (basically the band Baby Lemonade) four or five years ago in Portland. Absolute crap - it was cringeworthy and I felt embarrassed for the him. The poor man couldn't hold a note worth a shit, especially on the Love songs that he didn't originally sing. I thought he was just having an off night, but I've seen footage of the band since then, and he'd just lost the charm. To be fair, the crowd ate it up, and in modern interviews, Lee could talk shit about his contemporaries (the Beach Boys, Syd Barrett's Floyd, etc.) that rivaled the best of the shit talking musicians of this or any era.posted by item at 8:34 AM on August 4, 2006

That's why I linked to the old black and white item, that was his fine time.posted by tellurian at 8:42 AM on August 4, 2006

Don't get me wrong: thanks to out of control drug laws (well, those and the weapons and assault charges) the man had a mostly shit life but crafted some powerful, timeless music 40 years ago. I do tend to think that, looking over their body of work, Love has received quite a bit more praise than a lot of their equally good (if not better) contemporaries. 'Forever Changes' has some beautiful, damn near perfect material but it's also got an equal amount of filler and questionable lyrics (i.e. 'Live and Let Live': Well the snot has caked against my pants; it has turned into crystal.). In my opinion, by the way, which doesn't mean jack shit as long as there are people that see something in the music that I don't.

I was just reflecting on the Lee that I knew.

Am I gonna get hell for this? I should've just posted a ".".posted by item at 9:15 AM on August 4, 2006

Tags

Share

About MetaFilter

MetaFilter is a weblog that anyone can contribute a link or a comment to. A typical weblog is one person posting their thoughts on the unique things they find on the web. This website exists to break down the barriers between people, to extend a weblog beyond just one person, and to foster discussion among its members.